Searching
by Burai Stelar
Summary: Finding one's place in life is hard. Try doing it when you can wield magic, and a blade capable of vanquishing darkness. Roxas is just trying to find his place in the world, and in trying to do so, will end up getting into things way outta his league and making choices that may very well effect the future of the world.
1. Prelude

**I know what you're all thinking. "Oh my sweet lord, he's writing another story?" Well, don't worry about it. My reasons are in the author's notes at the end of this chapter, so just read if you want answers. Don't just skip to the end though, read this thing! And don't worry about the length, the rest of the chapters are going to be at least 3-4k more words than this one is.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts! I live a sad existence because of that fact. Tetsuya can just...you know...donate to my cause. What's the cause you ask? The "This kid is broke as fuck, and needs money to pay for his gas!" cause. Honestly America...get your shit together!**

* * *

"Attention, all those getting off at Twilight Town, please disembark. Attention, all those getting off at Twilight Town, please disembark."

_My name is Roxas, don't worry about a last name. I'm 17 years old, given a special gift. Didn't want it though.._

A blonde stepped off a train, his hands in his pockets. He wore a sleeveless hoodie with white drawstrings, with a dark blue short sleeved shirt underneath. His black cargo pants were held up by a black belt, and he wore dark blue combat boots. His hair was patted down on the sides, with the top swirled to the right.

_I don't like boring anyone with too many details, but unfortunately telling people about this would take just that._

As the blonde walked around the town, he weaved through the crowds of people that were in his way, his eyes darting around as if he was looking for something..or someone.

_See, when I was 8 years old, I met an elderly man on the streets. We talked for a while, and then I left after he let me see this weird cane he had. He let me hold it too, the weirdo. Everything was normal for a while, but when I turned 13, I started seeing things._

The blonde's ocean blue eyes narrowed when he noticed three black ant looking things just looking around, twitching as they did so. Taking one of his hands out of his pocket, he prepared to summon something of his. However, the ants melded into the shadows and disappeared. He snorted, and continued on his way.

_I saw these creatures that were made from Darkness, and on occasion, these weird grey creatures composed of Nothing. Obviously, I was freaked out, and never told anyone about it. I went to various libraries, and found books on various Mythos from the old days. After reading for days, I discovered that the creatures of Darkness were known as Heartless, and that the creatures of Nothing were called Nobodies. I also learned that only those that were either born blessed with something known as the Vision, or given the weapon known as the Keyblade could see them._

_I found out that I wasn't blessed with Vision, as those given that skill were able to see things once they turned 10. If given the ability to wield a Keyblade by another wielder, the blade would be able to be summoned after the wielder went through an 'Awakening.' This usually happened young after being bestowed the ability, but I'm a bit of a special case. I haven't had an Awakening, yet I can still wield my Keyblade._

He sat down at some cafe and ordered a drink. He ran his hand through his hair, and took a small book from one of his pants pockets.

_After a month of wielding my Keyblade, I left home. Imagine, a 14 year old boy leaving home to find a calling in life. The idea is laughable, but with the power at my disposal, it was probably the right idea. See, along with the Keyblade, the ability to cast magic is given as well. Every Keyblade wielder, however, is also given an element that they specialize in. I just recently found the element I specialize in: Lumokinesis, the ability to manipulate light._

_Now, onto explaining what else I know. The Heartless are born when a human either loses their heart to another Heartless, or when a human feels enough negative emotions to call Darkness to them, only to get consumed by it shortly after. One thing I noticed is that the Heartless have this want, this need, for a heart. The Heartless hunt humans, and 'kill' them by taking their hearts. They don't take the actual heart that pumps blood, but they take the heart that drives emotion, that makes humans feel. Confusing, I know..I mean..they take the heart but they don't 'take the heart'. _

_The process must be painful because soon after, the victim collapses. During the fall, the victim 'shifts planes' and no regular human can see them. To put it simply, the victim is seen standing around by some person, then simply disappears. _

_What really happens after the collapse of the person is saddening. They just lie on the ground with this shocked expression on their face, as their body starts being consumed by darkness. I've seen it happen to various amounts of people because I'm too late to save them._

_However, because Heartless have no way of finding a way to hold onto the heart, it floats off, to become a new Heartless elsewhere in the world. Sad really._

The waitress gave him his drink, and he flashed her a smile. He continued reading the book, taking a sip of his iced tea as he did.

_Now, onto the Nobodies. According to the various books I read, a Nobody is born when a human with a good enough will is killed by a Heartless. The body still fades into Darkness, but then goes to the Realm of Nothing. The body is reconstructed to look like something completely different, given a soul, and then sent to our world. I don't know what the purpose is for that though._

_I have read that those with a strong enough will can retain their human form. They function just like regular humans, except they don't feel any emotion. I have yet to meet one of this nature however._

Roxas finished his drink, and his book, with a sigh. He put his book away, and left, leaving munny on the table. He walked for a while and looked around, when he noticed something. He had gone in a huge circle. The blonde gave a heavy sigh, and sat on a bench. He'd have to find someone to show him around, and soon. He wanted sleep, damnit.

_So where was I? ...hmm...don't seem to remember. Ah well. Now, I just travel, trying to find a place where I can fit in. If it wasn't for my Keyblade, or that old man, I'd probably be at home, wondering what college I'd be going to, or who I would ask to the prom. Probably would have had a job. A minimum wage job, but a job nonetheless. Maybe I have a younger sibling back home or something? That'd be nice..having a sibling. I know that I did leave my younger cousin, Alice, to deal with whatever problems there are now. That must suck, having to trying and repair the damage I caused to the people that brought me into this world. It makes me curse my younger self for talking to that wrinkly ass old man. Makes me curse him hardcore._

_Thinking back on it though, you would think an 8 year old would have found something odd about an old man with pointy ears, and yellow eyes.._

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**Well, there's that! So, I promised you reasons, and reasons you shall get!**

**1. Writing chapters for EGO (Elite Gamers Online) back to back with only giving myself a week break before starting a new chapter is burning me out. I just need a break.**

**2. I ended up thinking of this idea for this story throughout the day while I was working, and I just knew I had to write it, or else I'd forget. And that'd have been a waste.**

**3. It's 2:24 AM when I'm posting this, I wasn't sleepy, I needed something to do.**


	2. Win Some, Lose Some

**Disclaimer: I no own Kingdom Hearts. Don't rub it in. ...I just want money, and 2.5 when it's released. Is that too much to ask? I don't think so!**

* * *

"Help!"

Roxas turned as he saw an auburn haired girl run past him, with a slight hitch in her step. Seconds after she passed, three other people followed her. _Hmm...should I help her? She's most likely got an ankle injury, and its probably recent. Plus those guys looked like they're chasing her and, if I can gauge a situation right, if they get her, they'd probably do horrible, sexual things to her._

The blonde sighed, and got off the bench he was sitting on. After taking a few small bounces, he ran after them. He had started with a jog, and steadily picked up speed until he was sprinting. He quickly caught up, and found the girl cornered by the three, their backs turned to him. Not one to waste an opportunity, he used his momentum and jumped in the air.

**X.X.X**

Kairi was having a bad day. Well, it wasn't a bad day all day. She did have an awesome hair day, and she was dressed cute. The only issue what that she went shopping late at night, a stupid idea. She had finished her freerunning for the day and had decided that she would need more clothes after her shirt got ripped at the back.

After leaving the mall, she had encountered these three guys that had the wrong intentions. She knew this by woman's intuition. They wolf-whistled at her, and tried to call her over to them. When she heard them following her, she speed up her walking, only to trip and sprain her ankle.

She heard them say things ranging from 'Get her before she gets up!' to 'Gon' get raped!' when she started to get up. After hearing that, she started hauling ass as fast as she could with her recent injury.

She did shout help once she reached what she knew was a populated area, but to her surprise it was empty! Well, apparently not empty, as she saw someone running toward her followers when she turned her head to look behind her.

"Always keep your eyes open, bastards!" the figure yelled as he drop kicked the thug nearest to him.

As the thug fell to the ground, Kairi stopped running to see what would happen from there. The person helping her hand blonde hair but that was all she could see, as they were a flurry of motion. From the voice, though, she could guess that it was a guy.

She watched, as her savior clotheslined the second of her pursuers and broke his left leg. _Well...okay then. _Kairi thought as he then broke the guy's right arm. Her eyes widened when she saw the last one take out a knife.

"Look out!" she yelled.

**X.X.X**

When the first thug went down easy, Roxas wanted to laugh. It had been a while since he fought an actual person, and to see one on the floor after only a simple drop kick was humorous. The guy he clothes lined was not as funny to see on the ground, so the blonde simple broke a random leg followed by an arm. He was so wrapped up in his fun, that he forgot all about the third guy.

"Look out!" the girl yelled at him.

Roxas turned around to see the third guy with a knife, lunging at him. Because the blonde was distracted by breaking bones, he was a little to late to react. The knife cut across his chest horizontally, and the guy dragged the knife down, giving the wound the appearance of a sideways L. Gritting his teeth, he used his right hand to grip the attacker's knife hand, and he place his left hand near the guy's chest.

"Aero," he whispered.

He felt the slight dip in his energy as the low level wind magic sent the attacker away as if he were being pushed continually by a body builder. Roxas smirked when the guy hit a light post, and didn't get up. He reached for his back to grab his pack for a potion to heal his injury, but he didn't find his pack.

"Are you looking for something? Because there is nothing on your back," the girl informed him.

Roxas swore, "Damn, I must have left my bag on the train without even knowing."

"Your bag?"

The blonde nodded, "Yeah..it had my clothes and my money."

The girl winced, "That sucks monkey balls."

_I need to heal my wound but I can't risk the chance of her possibly seeing my Keyblade. _

Roxas looked her dead in the eye, "I'm sorry, what's your name? Mine is Roxas."

"It's Kairi."

"Right..Kairi. You wouldn't happen to know anybody that could dress my wound, do you?"

The girl, Kairi, nodded and pointed at herself, "Yeah, I took a beginner medical treatment class during the summer," she took a look at his wound, "Definitely something I can take care of. Your clothes are not so lucky. I never learned how to sew, and I don't know anyone that can sew. You're gonna need a new shirt at least."

Roxas cursed his luck, "Well that's great. Now I gotta get some clothes, with money I don't have. And I gotta find somebody to dress my wound."

Kairi waved her hands in front of his face, "Hello! I just told you I can take care of your wound!"

The blonde blinked after seeing her hand wave in front of his face for the 20th time. Thinking back to a few seconds ago, Roxas did remember her saying that she could dress his wound. Holy shit, his mind was terrible at remembering things when his clothes were in a non-wearable state. Though, you can't blame him, the dude lost all his money.

"So do you have any bandages on you then, Kairi?"

Kairi shook her head in response, "Nope. I wasn't expecting to have to patch somebody up when I left for school today."

_School? _Roxas thought. He gave her a quick once over, to check out her wear. She was wearing black yoga pants, with a light blue shirt.

"That doesn't really look like school wear. It looks like something you'd wear to work out," he stated.

"Oh, that's because I wear this when I freerun," she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, "It's kinda something I do." She started to walk, and beckoned Roxas to follow. "Well, come on. I've got medical supplies at my apartment."

Roxas began to follow the girl, when he noticed something.

"Hey, did you know you have a rip on the back of your shirt?"

He then blinked as Kairi fell to her knees with a storm cloud brewing above her head.

**X.X.X**

(10 minutes later)

After Kairi's little fit ended, she led Roxas to her apartment to dress his wound. He watched as she put a key into her door to unlock it.

"Come in," she requested. "And don't mind the mess, I have a roommate who's gone on some kind of vacation or something."

He nodded as she flicked the lights on, "Right."

The main room was a little messy with some skirts, and blouses strewn about the area. There was a small blue couch placed against a wall, with a small TV against the opposite wall.

"It's very..homey."

Kairi rushed into the room, with her auburn hair in a ponytail, "Yeah, come on. Follow me, I'll get you to the bathroom where my supplies are."

She literally pulled him into the bathroom, and had him sit on a toilet with a closed lid. She pulled his shirt and hoodie over his face, and he saw black.

"Okay, since we kept pressure on the wound for a good while, the bleeding should have stopped. ...Okay the bleeding stopped, that's good. Now to check the surrounding tissue, and then apply what's needed."

He felt her poke around the wound, and then he felt a burning sensation.

"Ow! What the fuck was that?!"

"It was alcohol. Could you not handle it? Most guys I know can just ignore the burning when I'm cleaning the wound."

_They probably had to live without potions, and Cure spells._ he thought as she continued to treat his chest. After a few minutes, he felt her wrapping his chest with what he guessed were bandages.

"Alright, I've finished wrapping the wound. It should start healing soon, just don't do anything too strenuous so that it doesn't start bleeding again."

"Gotcha," he replied.

She nodded to him, "Take off your hoodie and shirt. Remember that you'll have to get some replacements." She began to rub her chin thoughtfully, "Though, the mall closed early today. You'd have to wait until tomorrow to get a new shirt."

"Right," he said depressed. "A new shirt..."

She must have caught his mood because he saw her give him a look of pity. Or was it apologetic? Either way, he hated it, and he wanted that look gone.

"It's fine though! I mean, it's not like those clothes were my favorite or anything!" he told her with his hands waving frantically.

"But they were your only clothes because you left your bag on the train. They were ruined on my behalf," she stated in a depressed tone.

He sighed and gave her an awkward hug.

"Don't worry. I'll handle it."

He felt her blink on his chest, and then she lightly pushed him to let him know that he could let go. He saw her give him a straight face, with her eyes looking right at him.

"You're gonna sleep here tonight."

**X.X.X**

Kairi didn't know what ran through Roxas' mind when she said that but he turned red in the face faster than anyone could say 'wow'. It was then that Kairi found the hidden meaning in her words, and she herself blushed.

She then explained that there was a bed open since her roommate was on that vacation, or something, that she mentioned earlier. She even pulled him into the room to show him that there were two beds occupying it. Kairi just didn't want him to think she was some kind of slut or something.

Since Roxas had taken off his hoodie and his shirt, his bandaged chest was bare, and she realized that he couldn't go outside or to the mall half naked. Looking in her room, she began digging through the pile of clothes that hadn't been picked up. _Pink bra? No. Yellow short shorts, forget these. Blue Strapless top is a no go, and so is this purple bikini._

After a few minutes of digging, she found a male black athletic shirt, with a puzzled look. She took a test sniff, and immediately recognized the scent. _Riku...the scent is a week old..oh well. Not like he's coming back to get this._

"I've got something for you to wear, just lemme wash it, and you can wear it tomorrow," she told him.

Kairi immediately walked out of the room with a pile of dark clothes, and went to the washer that she owned. She placed the pile in the washer, and added some detergent to get rid of the smell. She started the washing cycle, and left to go back to the room.

She found Roxas on the spare bed, dead asleep. Kairi had only left for a few seconds, and he was already asleep? He must not have slept in a comfortable bed for a long time for that to have happened. She shook her head, and then went to lay in her bed. _I'll help him tomorrow with the clothes issue._ she decided.

The comfort of her bed beckoned her to sleep, and she followed its command.

**X.X.X**

She awoke to the smell of bacon. Her violet eyes snapped open, and she got out of bed. Putting her dirty clothes in a hamper, she wrapped her body in a green towel she had laying on her foot board. She stuck her head out the door and looked around to make sure nobody was in the room between the bedroom, and bathroom. Once she was sure the room was clear, she made a dash for the bathroom.

She made it to the bathroom, and closed the door behind her. She went to the shower, and turned the knob for the hot water. While she waited for the falling water to heat up, she took the towel off and stood in front of the square mirror that was placed above her sink. She was fit, and she was proud of that. Years of eating healthy and exercising gave her the muscle that most girls her age wanted, and some killer curves to go with it.

After being distracted by the mirror for a solid 2 minutes, she remembered to test the water. She deemed it appropriate enough to shower, and stepped inside. The warm water cascading down felt wonderful on her body, and she let out a pleased sigh. After running the water through her hair, she grabbed the shampoo bottle, and placed the needed amount on her hair.

Once she was done shampooing her hair, she moved on to the conditioner. After she was done with her hair, she grabbed her body scrubber and...scrubbed her body. _There are probably sick perverts out there than fantasize about girls like me doing this...those sickos.._

After a few minutes she finished showering, and exited the shower. With the towel she brought in, she dried her body. She then wrapped her body with the towel, and walked out of the bathroom. Imagine her surprise when she walked outside to hear Roxas singing.

"...And I can't help but to hear, no I can't help to hear an exchanging of words," he sang.

Kairi smiled and sang the next line, "'What a beautiful wedding! What a beautiful wedding' says the bridesmaid to the waiter."

She heard the blonde laugh as he continued, "Yes but what a shame, what a shame the poor groom's bride is a whore."

Kairi ran to the kitchen, where she knew Roxas was, "I chime in with a 'Haven't you people ever heard of closing the goddamn door?' No, it's much better to face the kinds of things with a sense of poise and rationality."

The two shared a laugh, and Kairi straightened out her towel. She took a look at him, and noticed that he was wearing the athletic shirt she put in the washer last night.

"So you dried the clothes I put in the wash?"

"And I even made breakfast. Feel free to thank me," he told her.

Kairi rolled her eyes, and began walking toward the bedroom, "I'll thank you after I eat what you made."

"Then you should get dressed first! That towel nearly fell off when you came over here," he stated.

She blushed, and then closed the door. She went through her closet and picked out a pink collared halter top and a black skirt. She also took out pink flat shoes with thin black socks, and some random panties. She took a minute to dress herself, and she walked out of the room.

She went to the bathroom, and plugged in her hair dryer. She began to dry her hair, humming to the tune of 'Love Me Again' by John Newman. Once she finished drying her hair, she let it hang straight behind her back, her auburn hair going a little past the shoulder blades.

She walked out the bathroom, and went to the kitchen to see her small table with two plates of bacon and eggs. She looked around for a fork, but sighed when she couldn't find any on the table. A slight bump caused her to look up to see Roxas carrying two glasses of orange juice, and two forks. Kairi watched as he set a glass down for her along with a fork, and as he sat down himself.

"This better be good," she told him, as she began to eat.

"How is it?" Roxas asked her, as he too began to devour his breakfast.

Kairi looked at him as she put the last bit of bacon in her mouth and washed it down with the rest of her orange juice, "It's okay for bacon and eggs."

"Only okay?" he questioned.

"Yeah...only okay," she told him. She then got up and went to the bathroom, "If you want to freshen your breath, I've got some peppermint mouth wash you can use. I'm gonna brush my teeth and get the smell of egg out of my breath."

After 5 minutes of brushing her teeth she went to the bedroom and took a pack out from her closet. She checked the contents and smiled. In it was a bottle of shampoo-conditioner, deodorant, a red nightgown, a first-aid kit and some spare clothes. She shouldered the pack and left the room. One could never be unprepared for anything, and for some reason, Kairi felt an odd sense of foreboding, and she was feeling a little queasy.

**X.X.X**

(8 minutes later)

Kairi led Roxas to the mall, where she immediately dragged him into the nearest clothing store. She had him try on plaid button shirts, and polo shirts, but they didn't work for him.

"Roxas come on! Just walk outside the dressing room and let me see!"

"No! This shirt won't work!" Roxas told her as he poked his head out of the dressing room doorway.

Kairi held back her laugh, "Come outside. I promise I won't laugh."

She watched as Roxas walked out, wearing a pink polo shirt. Surprisingly, Kairi didn't laugh like she thought she would when she picked out the shirt. It looked nice on him, her guess being that his skin tone wasn't too dark for the color of the shirt to complement.

"I don't know why you were worried Roxas. The shirt looks good on you," she told him.

"Honest?"

Kairi raised her pinky, "Honest. Now wait right here, while I go pay for the shirt."

Roxas smiled at her, and she went to the register. The clerk was a green eyed brunette, with her hair stuck out at the sides. Two strands of hair, long enough to drape over her shoulders, fell from either side of her head. Her skin was soft, and peach-colored.

"Morning Olette."

Olette gave her a smile, "Good morning Kairi. I see you're back here early."

"I got jumped last night. I dropped my bags, and I'm helping someone get a new shirt."

The brunette leaned to the left to look past Kairi, "You mean the blonde wearing the pink shirt, with black cargo pants?"

Kairi grimaced, "I gotta change the pants don't I?"

"I didn't wanna say anything but yes."  
"What do you recommend?"

"Black slacks," Olette answered immediately.

Kairi took a look at Roxas, then nodded. She could agree with that statement. However, Roxas didn't seem to be the type to dress like that. When she met him, he was wearing more street worthy clothes, and that polo was definitely not gonna work for him if he had to put on some slacks.

"What about jeans?" Kairi asked.

Before Olette could open her mouth, they both heard a scream come from outside the store. When Kairi turned to see if Roxas was in trouble or anything, she saw him leave the store.

"Hey he hasn't payed for that!" Olette yelled.

"I'm paying for it Olette," Kairi told her as she dug into her pack for munny. "How much?"

She felt Olette's eyes looking her over, "Kairi, you okay? You seem kinda pale."

"I'm fine!" she assured. "Just tell me how much."

"300 munny."

Kairi nodded and put down the necessary amount. She then put away the rest of her munny, and ran out the store. She barely took 10 steps out the door when she fell to her knees, knocking them against the floor of the mall. Her stomach was burning for some reason, and it was making her feel weak and sick.

Things became darker, and Kairi turned around to see something that caused her heart to plummet. The store she had just left was covered in a wave of something black tinted with hues of dark blue and purple. She didn't know how but she knew what this substance was named.

"Darkness," she whispered.

The burning feeling in her stomach tripled in intensity, and she screamed while holding her stomach. A slight 'swoosh' sound made her look up to see a large black humanoid structure with a round, spherical head. It had circular yellow eyes, with two long twisted antennae sprouting from the top of it's head. It's hands had three clawed fingers, and it's feet were large, lacking any kind of toes. A minute after the first showed up, around 40 more appeared, surrounding her.

"This isn't good," she stated as she tried to stand.

She fell back to her knees, and this time she had to brace herself with her hands as well. Kairi's body felt weak, and she was on the verge of just closing her eyes and losing consciousness. With half-lidded eyes, she watched as several more stores were engulfed in darkness. _Am I going to die? At 17? I didn't even get to finish my first semester of college, or find the guy I was going to marry. Am I not even going to get to be a teacher, or an amazing athlete? I didn't even get to lose my virginity.._

Before she could quite literally give up on life, a blade buried itself into the ground in front of her. Without thinking, she reached upward for what she hoped was the hilt. As she grabbed it with her right hand, she pulled herself up to stand up. Once she reached her full height, she tried to pull the blade from the ground with one arm. Needless to say, it didn't budge.

The large ant looking things started to move closer to her, and she quickly placed her other hand on top of her right, and pulled. The blade dislodged itself from the ground, and Kairi managed to look at it. It looked like a sword, yet at the same time, like an oversized key.

It was long and black, with a hilt guard comprised of two bat-like wings extending downward. There was a diamond in the hilt, with a chain-like design that ran up the length of the blade. The teeth were shaped like the Kanji for darkness, and a black keychain with a black crown pendant was attached to the end of the hilt.

Holding the odd sword made Kairi feel a little better. The sick feeling faded somewhat, so she was able to stand fine. With both her hands, she held out the sword...key...thing in front of her, hoping it would scare the creatures away. It seemed to do the opposite, though, as the creatures seemingly sped up their crawl to her.

Before the nearest one could close in on her, a beam of white light hit the thing, destroying it on the spot.

"Okay," Kairi said, now officially freaked out. "What the actual fuck?"

**X.X.X**

(A few minutes earlier)

When Roxas heard the scream, he tore out of the store in a hurry. He felt bad leaving Kairi at the store to no doubt deal with the trouble he caused. As he ran toward the source of the scream, he began to see little pockets of Darkness appearing in random places. The odd part?

It seemed like everybody could see them. Random people kept pointing at the things, or trying to touch them.  
"Don't touch what you don't understand!" Roxas yelled as he passed a group of thugs trying to stick their arms into the Darkness.

He continued to run, until he found a little girl being chased by 3 giant ant-like creatures. _Gigas Shadows. Wonderful._ Roxas thought as he summoned his Keyblade Oblivion, not caring about any consequences.

Gripping the hilt with two hands, Roxas dashed at the nearest one, and in a burst of speed, zoomed past it. As he slid to a stop, the Gigas Shadow burst apart in a show of wispy black smoke. Quickly moving on, he attempted to stab through another one, only to dodge a swipe from third. _Is me getting ganged up on gonna be a thing? It better not be._

The two Gigas Shadows surrounded him on either side, and he smirked. He spun, whipping out his Keyblade to hit the two. Stopping his spin, he lifted Oblivion up, and brought it down onto the head of the one of the Shadows. As it burst apart, he quickly stabbed the last one, destroying it. He then relinquished Oblivion and walked toward the little girl.

"You okay?" he asked the little girl as he knelt down to look her in the eyes.

"Y-yes. Thank you mister," she replied, sniffling all the while.

"You didn't get hurt did you?"

"One of them scratched me on my back," she told him as she turned to show him her gash. "It hurts a lot."

Roxas smiled, "Well here. Let me fix it."

He concentrated, and went into his reserve of magic power. Once he cast this spell, he wouldn't be able to use basic magic until it recharged.

He focused his gaze on the girl's back and spoke, "Cure."

A small flower bloomed over the girl as the green healing magic took effect. The skin around the gash knitted together and made the gash disappear. It happened so fast that the girl didn't even seem to feel it.

"There, you're all better now," he told her.

He watched the girl pat her back, and then hug him when she realized the gash was gone.

"Oh, thank you mister! Now I'm gonna go find my momma!" she told him as she released him.

He laughed a little while she ran toward the direction he came from, and stood up. He was about to go handle more of the Heartless when he heard slow footsteps. He turned to see an old man walking in his direction. He was bald, except for thin eyebrows and the curled, silver goatee. He had broad, hunched shoulders, and a crooked back. He wore a white button shirt that went down to his knees, and was held at the waist by two black belts. He had black pants, with black boots that reached his calf. The last thing Roxas took note of was his yellow eyes, and pointed ears.

"Hey!" the blonde yelled.

"Hello young man," the elder replied as he stopped in front of Roxas.

Roxas summoned Oblivion and pointed it at the man, "You gave me this. Why? Why was I given this?"

The man smirked, "That's my little secret boy."

The blonde narrowed his eyes, "Then do you know why suddenly everybody here can see the Heartless?"

"Oh that's an easy one," the man said as he spread his arms out. "I'm the cause of that."

"What?"

"See the realm that those with the Keyblade or the Vision can see is a bastardized version of the Realm of Darkness. By using my vast knowledge of magic, and the power of my Keyblade, I was able to break the barrier separating our world from that realm thus allowing everyone to see the Heartless and the Darkness that accompanies them. Now, I'm simply watching as this place falls to Darkness."

"What's the point of breaking a barrier? As a wielder of the Keyblade wouldn't you want to preserve the light in the world!?"

A store near the two burst into darkness, surprising Roxas.

"The light has had it's run in the world. It's time for the world to return to darkness, just as it was born from it," the man turned away from Roxas, and tucked his hands behind his back.

Roxas blinked, and then ran at the man, aiming to bifurcate him. His blade stopped inches from the guy's waist and Roxas began to hover slightly in the air. _What?_

"Attacking an old man from behind?" the elderly man asked. "That's such an...evil thing to do."

The man turned around, and blasted Roxas with what appeared to be black ice. The ice sent Roxas skidding back several feet, and it clung to his chest and part of his face, chilling him.

"Such haste..don't worry about those lives that get taken into the Darkness. They'll either end up in another part of the world, or they'll end up in the actual Realm of Darkness. Of course, those with a good amount of light in their hearts may end up being felled by Heartless."

"You..you're.." Roxas attempted to create a coherent sentence, but that was proving to be difficult with the ice on his chest.

"Xehanort," the man stated with a creepy smile. "You'll do well not to cross my path again."

Roxas then watched as the man created a portal of darkness, and walked into it. The portal disappeared, and Roxas used Oblivion to break the ice on his body.

He heard a scream, from a voice he recognized.

"Kairi!"

He ran in the direction he heard her scream from, hoping he made it in time.

**X.X.X**

When Roxas threw Oblivion in Kairi's direction as a means for her to get up, he didn't know what to expect. When Oblivion didn't disappear from Kairi's grip, he started to attempt to get closer to her. Several Mega Shadows got in his way, and he started to use magic spells against them.

He used Fire, Blizzard, Aero, and even Magnet to lessen the number of Heartless in his way. While he fought his way toward Kairi, he heard several more stores disappear in the darkness. _Twilight Town is going to fall into Darkness...damn Xehanort!_

Just as he saw one Mega Shadow get close to Kairi, he used his Lumokinesis to fire a beam of light from his finger at the Heartless.

"Okay," he heard Kairi say. "What the actual fuck?"

He managed to reach her and spoke, "Give me my Keyblade."

Kairi seemed surprised to see him, "You mean this weird thing in my hands?"

"Yeah..hand it over."

She consented and handed Oblivion back to him. He instantly began to attack the Heartless with it, destroying as many as he could. He felt his cut open up, and he cursed. Bleeding would not do him good right now.

"Cura!" he yelled as the spell took effect and healed his body.

With the cut no longer around, Roxas began to swing his Keyblade faster, taking out more Heartless with each stroke. He stopped to take a breath, when the last one was vanquished. Kairi got close to him, and held him.

"Roxas I'm scared," she sobbed.

He looked around, and saw that the darkness was inching closer, and closer to their location. The Heartless were gone, and he couldn't do anything else. He relinquished Oblivion, and held Kairi in a comforting hug.

"Don't worry. No matter what happens I'll keep you safe," he told her.

She looked him in the face, "Promise?"

"I promise."

As the darkness came closer and closer, Kairi gripped him tighter, and he replied in kind. A few seconds after, darkness engulfed the two, finishing it's job.

Twilight Town had been completely taken in by the darkness.

* * *

**Well, there's that. Bam. Barely two chapters in and already shit hits the fan. **

**Now, for something completely unrelated to plot. I'm thinking of moving the rating up to M. What with them being hormonal teens, and the way I've got this plot set up, things might get raunchy. Too raunchy for the T rating. Just a heads up in case you like this story and wonder why it suddenly isn't showing up on the normal page. **


	3. The Keybearer's Strife

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It pains me so much to type that sentence, you don't even know.**

* * *

Falling.

That was the next thing Roxas knew as he regained feeling in his body. He opened his eyes, and took note of the blue sky. The sight gave him slight relief, as it meant that they weren't in the Realm of Darkness. So then what part of the world were they falling to? Well first he'd have to find out which way was up, and which way was down. Looking, in what he could currently assume to be, down he saw sand, a lot of sand. He also saw Kairi's body, spinning slowly like a top, falling a few inches below him. She was probably unconscious, seeing as how he heard no screaming, and he could see that her eyes were closed.

Reaching out, he managed to grab her halter top to pull her close to him. Roxas maneuvered his body so that his back was facing the sandy land, and held Kairi close to him so that when they landed, she wouldn't hurt his chest. He looked back to see that the sand was coming closer and he braced himself, quickly sending a prayer to anyone.

His body impacted with the sand, and he could immediately tell that he had cracked some bones. It was at this point he was glad that wielding the Keyblade gave him enhanced durability.

"Cura," he groaned, as the spell began it's effects.

With the drain on his magic reserves, coupled with the fact that any adrenaline he had, from waking up falling, was gone he simply did one thing.

He began to pass out.

The last thing he saw before losing consciousness, was someone walking in his line of sight.

**X.X.X**

(Location Unknown, 12 hours later)

The blonde opened his eyes, only to cover them with his hand a second later. Where ever he was had fluorescent tubes over where he was laying. _What am I laying on though?_

He moved his back, and heard a squeaking sound. Moving again, he turned over on his side. He was on a mattress in a bland white room. The blandness of the room was so boring, it honestly almost put him back to sleep.

Before he could fall asleep, he heard the sound of a door sliding open. He turned toward the sound and saw a teenage girl walk in. She wore an unzipped black vest over a navy blue tank top with white floral designs. Baggy, black sweat pants hung at her hips, and she wore black sneakers. Lastly, the girl had short, black hair and violet eyes.

"Bout time you woke up. You scared the shit outta me when you fell from the sky in Agrabah."

Roxas blinked, "You make it sound like we're not still in Agrabah."

The girl gave him a smile, "Because we're not. When I found you and the girl, I was leaving that place from a mission. I figured I'd take you guys with me as I came back to base. When I dragged you in, it was odd. The leader looked like he'd seen a ghost. Muttered something about calling his wife, and left." She placed one of her hands to her chin in a pondering position, "It was odd."

_Leader? Wife?_ He swallowed a rising lump and asked, "Where are we?"  
"Radiant Garden."

A flare of fear lit up inside of Roxas, "Where's the girl that was with me? We gotta leave now."

Roxas stood up, and began to walk past the girl. However, barely a few inches away from the door, he felt a few pokes to his legs, and fell.

"The fuck?" he asked.

He looked up to see the girl looking at her nails, "You like that? I learned it from the internet."

"What did you do?"

"I hit pressure points in your legs. You won't be moving them anytime soon. What's the rush anyway?"

"Quickly, tell me who this leader is?" Roxas asked, dreading the answer.

"Cloud Strife."

_Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit. _After hearing that, Roxas began attempting to drag himself out using his arms. He reached the door, and it slid open, greeting his vision with black shoes. He looked up to see black yoga pants, with a white tank top. Looking further up, past the impressive bust, he saw rust colored eyes, and waist length brown hair. The eyes he looked at were normally kind, and caring. Now, though, the eyes that usually gave him comfort, made him wish that he didn't exist. Who knew that eyes such as those could show a stern, controlled anger, and an unbearable sadness in them at the same time?

Roxas swallowed, "H-hey M-mom. How've you been these past few years?"

"I've been worrying about the son that left," she gave him a forced smile. "Glad to see your back."

He laughed nervously, "Well, you see...about that..." His eyes darted around for a way of escape. "I, uh...had to use the bathroom?"

She bent at the waist to closer at him, "One does not simply use the bathroom for four years."

He was starting to get feeling back into his legs, "Um...I saw a bunny?"

"Yeah, no."

"I thought I saw a twin of me?"

"Uh-uh."

"I went for a walk," he tried.

"Yuffie found you in Agrabah. That's roughly 800 miles away from here."

In other words...very far from home.

"I take _really _enthusiastic walks."

"Try again, son," she told him, getting her face closer to his.

The feeling was fully back into his legs. He bit his lip, and then dipped into his magic reserve. As he prepared the spell, he made sure to target the girl that hit his legs. _Sorry about this.._

"Well..then...Stopra!"

The two in the room with him froze. Above their heads, he saw a tiny clock, ticking away the time he had before they unfroze. He picked himself up, and ran out the room.

He started sprinting in the hallways, yelling Kairi's name as he passed by doors. A few seconds after, he heard Kairi respond to him. Using the sound as flag, he followed until he reached a hall with three doors. He walked up to one on the left, and it slid open.

He walked into a huge office, with several lavish chairs strewn about. An oak desk was placed in the middle, near a window, and sitting on top of it was Kairi. She was wearing the clothes she had before the Twilight Town incident, and she was looking at a small frame she held in her hand. Her eyes glanced at him, before she smiled.

"Roxas!" she yelled as she tackled him to the floor with a hug.

He held back a groan, "Kairi, you're okay?"

She gave him a nod, as she sat on his stomach, "I'm a-okay."

Kairi got off him, and he stood up. He quickly looked around, and then gripped her shoulders.

"Kairi, we've gotta get outta here."

"Why?" her eyes narrowed. "Is it because your family is here?"

"What? No!" he denied. "Look, before Twilight Town fell, I met an old man that has some unanswered questions for me. I've got to find him so he can tell me why I have my Keyblade, and why he's not protecting the light of the world."

Kairi stepped back, "Keyblade? You mean that weird sword key thing that you had me give you?"

"Yes..that," Roxas told her with his face in his palm. Honestly, the weapon should have been simple to imagine when it was said by word of mouth. "He gave me the ability to wield it, and I wanna know why. An old fart like that looks like he should be prepared for anything. And his magic ability.."

He thought back to how Oblivion had been stopped from cutting Xehanort in half, and how he was lifted into the air. The ice that was blasted at him seemed to be just a regular Blizzara spell, but it was black..probably due to Xehanort's darkness.

He heard the door slide open, and turned. He held back a curse when he saw who it was. The blonde spiky hair, with blue eyes. The stern face. The man wore a black muscle shirt, with some baggy dark blue pants tucked into black military boots. The most noticeable thing? The massive sword that was several feet long, strapped to his back.

"Roxas. Glad your back home," he told him.

"Dad," Roxas replied.

The two glared at each other for a few seconds before the place shook. Roxas gave a shocked glance to Kairi, who appeared to be equally shocked.

"What the fuck was that?" she asked.

"That, was Tifa. My wife, and Roxas' mom."

Roxas turned to his father with wide eyes, "That was mom!?"

His father turned to him with a blank expression, "Yeah. I never told you did I? About how your mom has tremendous strength, and that it's never good to get her angry?"

"No...no you didn't," he replied. "That would have been a good thing to know before I turned 12..or 13."

Kairi stepped forward and held out her hand, "My name is Kairi. Who would you be?"

His father gripped her hand and shook it, "Cloud Strife. I'm the blonde idiot's father."

Roxas pouted, "I'm no idiot."

His father gave him a pointed look, "You ran away from home at age 13 for no reason. You're an idiot."

"It wasn't for no reason!" Roxas defended. "I had questions! Questions that my parents couldn't answer!"

"And what questions could we not answer?" Tifa asked as she walked into the room.

Roxas summoned Oblivion and showed it to them.

"Questions like 'why I have the Keyblade?' or 'why was I suddenly given the power to make actual changes in the world?' Those kind of questions!"

His mom slapped him. As he turned to look her in the eyes, he saw the anger written on her face.

"You're an idiot! You left our house when you were 13 years old! If you had just talked to us about it, instead of leaving, we probably could have directed you to a library or something."

"Where do you think I went when I was younger? That's where I learned all I could about the Keyblade and the various mythos surrounding it," Roxas took a breath. "One that really stuck out was the fact that just summoning my Keyblade can draw Heartless to me like a bug to light. Back then I didn't know about any of your fighting ability. Of course I'd run. To protect you."

He watched Tifa and Cloud share a look before Cloud spoke to him.

"So you ran away...to protect us?"

His mom busted out laughing, "Oh...oh that's rich."

Roxas frowned. Weren't they being all serious just a few seconds ago? His mom was now on the floor, crying because she was laughing so hard. And Kairi looked like she was fighting off a smile. He couldn't even tell her to leave because, technically, the whole reunion thing was over.

"Roxas that's so cute," Kairi stated. "Leaving your house to keep the parents that you didn't know could fight, safe."

He dismissed Oblivion, and then threw his hands up. There was no winning this. Today was just not his day.

**X.X.X**

(Radiant Garden Defender Base, 10 minutes later)

Kairi was walking through the halls, with her new friend Yuffie. The black haired girl with the sweats and navy blue tank top was awesome to hang out with. The girl was so energetic that she revealed that she was a ninja right outta the blue. Of course, Kairi was immediately taken in by the idea of stealth, and ninja-ness

"I've got this big-ass shuriken that I use for swinging, and several small shuriken that I acutally throw," Yuffie told her.

"Why don't you throw the big shuriken? Wouldn't it be more likely to hit the target?"

"Yeah, but then I'd have to put in extra effort to make sure it spins the right way so it comes back," Yuffie immediately replied.

Kairi nodded in agreement. That was very true. As they turned a corner, Kairi stopped. She looked at the dark hallway with all her attention. The black that covered the hallway was drawing in her. Her chest constricted, and for a moment, Kairi thought she saw beady yellow eyes open. Just as she felt like she was going to completely succumb to the pressure in her chest, she felt herself getting shaken.

"-ri! Kairi! Yo!"

Taken out of her stupor, she took in a huge amount of air, just to release it seconds later. _What the heck was that?!_ She just stood there, staring at the dark of the hall. Was that going to happen everywhere she saw a dark spot? Would she even be able to sleep at night? Was she going to develop insomnia from this?

"Hey Kairi..you okay?" her friend asked.

"Y-Yeah..I'm fine."

She felt Yuffie feel her.

"Yeah, no you're not. You're all clammy, pale, and you look like you're about to faint."

Kairi immediately felt Yuffie drag her in the direction of what she assumed would be the medical bay.

"Just rest here for a while Kairi," the girl said as she tried to place a struggling Kairi on a bed.

"Dump that," Kairi replied. "I'm gonna move around! I was unconscious for several hours! I deserve movement damn it!"

The door slid open, and in walked Roxas with his mother towing him. He wasn't struggling at all, though it shouldn't be a surprise what with Tifa's scary strength and all.

"Hey Roxas."

"Don't talk to him, he's suffering from a little exposure to darkness."

Kairi was curious, "Huh?"

"Clammy, pale, and looks like he's about to faint. It happens a lot to those that encounter a strong amount of darkness for the first time. He just needs rest."

"I do not! I was unconscious for several hours! I need to move for fuck's sake!"

Kairi was surprised. She had basically said the same thing just a minute ago. She stood up, and walked over toward the pair.

"I'll walk around with him. If either of us is still suffering any adverse effects, we'll come back."

Tifa looked like she wanted to refuse, but she nodded regardless. Kairi took Roxas' hand, and walked out of the room.

"Kairi, you handled that like a champ."

"I know."

"You're my hero."

"I can guess."

The two rounded a corner, and continued to walk through the halls, chatting about random topics. Kairi was surprised at how much Roxas made her laugh, seeing as how almost nobody could make her laugh so easily. By the time they walked toward a garden space, she was using Roxas as means to keep standing. After attempting to calm herself down with a few breaths, she looked Roxas in the eye..only to bust out laughing again.

"Kai-"

She laughed harder, and fell to the floor. She clutched her stomach, and curled into a ball. A little known fact to anyone was that Kairi had a little thing. Once she had laughed to a certain extent, she would laugh at anything remotely funny. She was currently laughing at the fact that the first three letters of her name rhymed with 'pie.'

After a few minutes, she calmed down enough to stop her laughter. She stood up, wiping tears from her eyes.

"I'm okay now."

"I can see that," he stated.

She blinked and then noticed something that she should have pointed out earlier.

"You are aware that there are rips in your pink polo shirt right?"

"How?! I wasn't even touched!" he proclaimed as he inspected the front of his shirt.

There were multiple rips in his shirt in the shape of claw marks.

"Well, maybe some of those monsters got you and you couldn't tell?"

"Possibly."

"What's odd is the fact that the black wife beater underneath isn't even damaged at all."

"It's weird isn't it?"

**X.X.X**

(Radiant Garden Defender Base, 2 hours later)

Roxas was following his mom, with Kairi following him. She had called for the two after they spent time walking around the base. And her face was so serious too!

"So..what's this about?" he asked as they walked into his dad's huge office.

Cloud looked him the eyes, "You guys have got to go."

"What? Why?" Roxas asked. "What the hell dad! If this is about me running away then I'm really super sorry!"

His dad looked confused, "What? No..it's not about that. Listen, you already told me about how Twilight Town fell to darkness, and how this lunatic Xehanort is planning on filling the world with untold amounts of darkness."

"I never said that last part."

"No you didn't. But you did say his exact words were 'It's time for the world to return to darkness, just as it was born from it.' I'm believing that that is what he's planning. Back on to the topic of why you're leaving though. I know someone in a place called the Land of Departure, his name is Master Eraqus. He's a Keyblade Master, and he's training three pupils already. I talked to him, and he's agreed to train you. You are to depart immediately."

Roxas turned to look at his mom, then to Kairi. She raised her hand, like she was in school.

"Question! How far is the Land of Departure?"

Tifa answered the question, "It's on the other side of the world."

Well...okay. He basically had to travel the world to get to a master..

"It's gonna take me like...years to get there dad."

"Personal Gummi Ship is being provided," Cloud told him.

That hyped Roxas up. A lot. Gummi Ships were rare, extremely rare. They were basically blocky planes, with odd magic that made it seem small on the outside, but like...huge on the inside. Rumor had it that they were capable of traversing dimensions, but that had to have been a load of bullshit. Different dimensions didn't exist.

"That shortens the trip to a few months..with stops!" Roxas said, a smile on his face. "I can actually see the world now!"

"That's right. Now get to the ship, it's right outside. In it you'll both find a ton of clothes to wear. Various pieces and stuff."

Roxas immediately ran out of the office, with Kairi in tow. He dragged her through various hallways, and eventually ended up outside. Roxas stopped in front of a multi-colored Gummi Ship with sparkling eyes.

"This is so awesome!" he yelled.

It was blocky and awkward, yet so cool. It was made of red, orange, yellow, blue, green, and purple blocks, each color placed in random areas. There were small turrets on the wings, and a cannon or something on the bottom of the ship.

"It hasn't be christened. Do you wanna name it?" his dad asked as he and Tifa walked out of the building.

"The Asskicker 2000."

He heard the sound of a slap and saw Kairi with her forehead connected to her hand muttering words he couldn't understand. She then walked up and grabbed him by the collar.

"Lets get in those clothes they mentioned," she told him, dragging him inside. Once they were in she hissed, "'Asskicker 2000?' Seriously!?"

"Yes. It's the most badass name ever for a ship. And for the record, it's The Asskicker 2000."

"Whatever," Kairi said as she pinched the bridge of her nose. She then walked around. "I've read about Gummi Ships. Seems the thing about the magic is real. Now to find the clothes."

Roxas shrugged and went to look around for some clothes to put on. He heard a squeal and laughed a little. Kairi probably found a room with clothes. He found a door, and opened it. He smiled once he did, he could smell the masculinity in the room. It was joyous.

He went to the closet, opened the door and gasped. No wonder Kairi squealed, it was huge! He stepped closer and closer to the doorway of the closet and parted the clothing. Holy crap he could walk in!

"This is some fucking high class magic," he muttered as he looked around the four wall closet.

There were various shoe boxes at the walls, and clothing for any style that a guy could want. He looked around and found several items to his liking. He smirked, and calmly selected his clothes.

**X.X.X**

(5 minutes later)

Roxas walked out of the closet satisfied. He wore a white polo shirt with the collar popped up. Over that, he wore a black hooded leather jacket that was zipped up. His pants were black, and on his feet were leather, black and white, high top sneakers that had laces and a strap. The finishing touch was the checker board pattern fingerless gloves.

He walked out of the room that he dubbed his, and tried to find Kairi. It was proving to be kind of difficult. The ship was huge on the inside. He found her, and held back a 'daaaaaaaammmmnnnnn!'

She wore a pink collared blouse, with blue pants, and white converse. On her head was a pink beanie, and her auburn hair was styled so that a couple of strands were in front of her shoulders on both sides.

All in all, he thought she was _fine_.

"Kairi...you look...beautiful."

"Thank you. I think you look nice too," she told him, a blush on her face.

He gave her a smile, and they both walked out of the Gummi Ship to say goodbye. Roxas immediately ran toward his mother and gave her a hug. After separating from her, he gave his dad a hug.

"Enjoy the time you have. Master Eraqus isn't expecting you for like...a year and a half."

Roxas grinned, "Oh..I'm sooo abusing that time. Thank you for telling me."

Cloud groand, "I should not have told you that."

"I thank you dad."

Roxas laughed, and then went back to the Gummi Ship. He was waiting at the entrance to the ship, watching as Kairi tearfully said good-bye to his mother and father. She got on the ship, leaving Roxas standing by the entrance. He was about to go inside, when he felt something..a sense of foreboding.

"Hey..mom..dad. I love you!" he waved. "You sure you don't want me to stay?"

He watched his dad wave back to him, "No! You go learn how to be a badass, then come back!"

"I will!"

Roxas walked inside of the Gummi Ship, went to the cockpit, and started it up.

**X.X.X**

As the Gummi Ship flew on auto-pilot, Roxas sat in what they called the 'room where we can sit and hang out,' in silence. Kairi walked in and sat by him patting him on the shoulder. They both had felt what was wrong. Darkness, and a good amount of it was going toward Radiant Garden as they were leaving. And with darkness came Heartless, which would hunt for hearts relentlessly.

"Roxas, don't worry. Your parents are tough, and Yuffie's a ninja. They'll be okay."

He only nodded dumbly. He believed that they'd make it through. But even if they beat back the Heartless, Radiant Garden probably wouldn't end up being the same. Roxas blinked as a yellow bottle was danged right in front of him, courtesy of Kairi.

"Um..Kairi..that's an Elixir."

"Yeeeaaahhh it is."

"I'm not injured."

She giggled, "Oh, Roxas. Poor innocent Roxas. See, Elixir has some properties in it. Properties that only activate when there are no injuries to heal. It causes you to feel like you had a bunch of energy drinks."

"So...?"

"Reeaaallly hyper."

"Kairi..did you drink any?"

She smacked her lips, "Nope. Besides, there are like 45 of em in storage. No need to worry."

"Then why are you dangling it in front of my face?"

"Because you look like you need cheering up. You've been gloomy since we took off."

"I have not!"

"Roxas did you even have a destination in mind when we took off? Because your face was dipped in _manpain_ when we left."

As a matter of fact he did. It was a place he'd heard about when he was 9 and he was still fascinated with it. The mystery behind it all was wonderful, plus he loved the ocean.

"Atlantica."

Pain flashed in his eyes as Kairi's fist deposited itself on his head. After it left, Roxas rubbed his head in confusion.

"Why Kairi?"

"Because Atlantica doesn't exist! It's a myth!"

Roxas looked her right in the eye, because she needed to hear this.

"I call bullshit. You're gonna tell me something is a myth, when I can wield a Keyblade, and use magic?"

She blushed under his gaze and replied, "It's just..." she glanced at her feet, "I really wanted to go to Disney Town. I've never been before, so I figured that this would be the perfect opportunity.."

Roxas kept a straight face outwardly. Inwardly, he was dying from all his laughter. She was like a grown-up child!

"Kairi it would take a few days to fly to Disney Town, and the location where Atlantica should be is a few hours away."

"Exactly! We have a year and a half before that master guy expects you! And I know you'll want to go back to Radiant Garden sometime, so you can check on your parents," Kairi crossed her arms. "And don't even try to deny it."

Roxas opened his mouth to despite, but found that he couldn't. How could she already know what his intentions were after only spending like..2 days together?

"..Fine..we'll go to Disney Town," he sighed, standing up.

He ignored her happy yell, and went to the cockpit to reprogram the auto-pilot. This was gonna be one long trip..

* * *

**Omake**

What Xehanort did...

He was just sitting down, waiting for Xehanort to finish business when a Dark Portal opened up a few feet from him. The old man walked in, and the portal closed shortly after. Xehanort had that smile of his on..the one that just screamed 'Pedophile!'

It kinda creeped him out. Oh, and the way the guy walked creeped him out too. It was so weird that lately, a lot of what Xehanort did creeped him out to some degree.

"Helmet-boy! I just did the evil villain thing without a hitch! Oh, it was so wonderful!" Xehanort laughed, the smile plastered on his face. "Boy! Play my jam!"

He sighed, and took out his iPhone. He plugged an auxiliary cord into the headphone jack, and went scrolling through his music. It took every fiber of his being to not vomit when he clicked Xehanort's jam.

Soon, 'Barbie Girl' started playing from the speakers that Xehanort had around their hideout. _Can I bash my face in?_ He asked himself, as he watched Xehanort dance.

Oh god, was he shuffling? No..just no. There were so many things wrong with this old man, it was a wonder he wasn't insane. Was he doing the worm now? Oh fuck, the old coot WAS insane.

Soon the man stopped dancing, and spread his arms out, his fingers curling as if he wanted to grasp something. Oh..god..and it was at this part.

"Come on Barbie, let's go party," Xehanort sang as he stared directly at him with that creepy smile.

He shuddered, and secretly wished that he was somewhere else..like Disney Town..or Atlantica. Those places wouldn't have freaks that did this kind of thing.

At least he hoped not.

* * *

**Bam! Third chapter rolled out! Now that it's done, I can focus on finishing chapter 6 of EGO. God, it's looking to be a good chapter, hopefully, you guys will enjoy it so much, you'll overlook the fact that you had to wait so long for it.**


	4. Play hard, fast and confused

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Damn it Tetsuya! It's been forever, can we please have the 2.5 remix release date? Honestly, Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution was announced in like friggin' December and we already have a release season for it. Get your stuff together!**

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Roxas was freaked out. And with good reason.

All the inhabitants of Disney Town were. freaking. animals.

No lie. He saw ducks, cows, dogs, chipmunks and weasels(?), all of them walking biped style. Oh, and wearing clothes, that should be important to mention. Roxas couldn't wonder anymore as Kairi dragged him in a random direction by his arm.

"This is so cool!" Kairi told him with stars in her eyes. She took him to some attraction that looked like a giant pinball machine. "We're doing that first!"

Roxas blinked, and yanked his arm out of her grip. As he massaged his arm, he looked around. There were rides, and various activity stands spread across his vision. In the distance, a massive white castle with blue pointed roofs on its various towers hung just outside of the clouds.

"Wait..so Disney Town is some overgrown amusement park?" he asked, his eye twitching.

"No, it's a legit town, we're just in the activity sector of the place."

"Well, the activity sector must be pretty fucking huge then."

He heard a small laugh, "I would appreciate it if you didn't swear around the general public."

Quick as a flash, he summoned Oblivion and swung it like a baseball bat in the direction of the voice. Imagine his surprise when the attack was blocked...by another Keyblade.

The guard appeared to be two shooting stars, with the blade being blue and decorated with stars. The teeth of the Keyblade were a crescent moon and a star. The keychain was designed like a crescent moon.

_Another Keyblade?_ Roxas thought as he jumped back. He blinked when he saw who he attacked. It was an anthropomorphic mouse with black fur, ears of the same color, and a long, thin tail. The mouse wore a short sleeved jacket with white lining. The top half of the jacket was black, while the bottom half was red, with two yellow straps dangling from the top of the jacket. The pants the mouse wore were red, and sported a zipper going down the front of each leg. The legs of the pants also had a yellow pouch with a black strap that partially covered the zipper. The shoes were yellow, and very large, with grey backs and two orange, intersecting straps attached to the front of each shoe.

"Hello, my name is Mickey Mouse," the mouse said, with a serious look in his eyes, "and I would also appreciate it if you didn't attack me."

"You're a Keyblade wielder?" Roxas asked as he banished Oblivion.

"And a king. Not that that's important."

Pain flashed as Kairi slapped him in the back of the head. Was her hurting him gonna be a thing?

"You attacked a king?! You idiot!" she yelled. She then bowed, bent at the waist. "Roxas is terribly sorry for attacking you, your majesty."

_I can totally apologize for myself._ Roxas thought as he rubbed his head. He didn't know the mouse was a king before he attacked! He didn't even know that he was attacking a mouse, but that's beside the point.

"It's fine, it's fine," Mickey told them, his arms waving in front of him, "It's not like he knew I was a king."

"Thank you for defending me, your majesty," Roxas replied. "So..you have a Keyblade? Are you self-taught?"

"No, I became a Master not too long ago. I apprenticed under Master Yen Sid."

Opportunity!

Roxas fell to his knees and took Mickey's hands in his own, "Could you take me on as a student, your majesty?"

"Uh, I'm sorry. But I'm not much of a teacher. You'd be much better off with Yen Sid, or Eraqus."

"I'm already heading to Eraqus. But he's not expecting me for at least a year and a half. I could show up early, but I don't know what he'd do if I did."

"He'd be okay with it. I took some trips over there during my apprenticeship. I got to know him and his three students. So, why do you need a Master anyway?"

"Xehanort caused Twilight Town to fall to darkness. I don't know about Radiant Garden."

Mickey's face hardened, "Did you just say 'Xehanort'?"

"Yeah..why?"

"Because that just solidifies my decision to travel the world."

"..Why?"

"Xehanort is a terrible person with nothing but darkness in his heart. Someone like that..is extremely dangerous to have around in the world," Mickey stated. He turned to walk away, "Enjoy your day. When you guys are ready to leave, come to castle. We have more to discuss. In the meantime, have fun with your girlfriend."

"We're not dating!" Roxas yelled, just as Mickey ran off.

He turned to Kairi to see her face beet red.

**X.X.X**

(10 minutes later)

"Yes! High score!" Kairi yelled as she got off the massive pinball machine. Despite playing the game for so long, not a hair was out of place.

Roxas crawled behind her, dragging himself with his arms.

"No more," he wheezed, "No more, please."

He thought it was just an oversized pinball machine. How wrong he was. Basically the player was put inside a clear, durable, large pinball, and sent into the machine. The player then had to try and rack up their score while hitting bumpers, and avoiding the elimination holes. It was very hard work..and very tiring.

"Aw quit being such a baby," Kairi stated as she helped him up, "How about we play Fruitball?"

"What's Fruitball?" he asked as they walked in some direction, "Is it some kind of game?"

Kairi nodded, pulled out a brochure and read from it, "Fruitball is the game to play! In a series of quickly organized tournaments, players must quickly score points by knocking oversized fruits into goals. We say quickly because the matches are timed, so shove the fruit into the net!"

"That sounds interesting. Does the brochure have a map of where it is?" Roxas asked.

Kairi looked at the brochure, and took Roxas's hand. He blushed, which went unnoticed by Kairi, and let her lead him to the Fruitball. It took a few minutes, but they found the Fruitball court.

There was a net in the of the court and it looked like a tennis court with round corners. At the two ends of the court were goals...that floated in the air...oh, and the net began to float..wonderful. Even better, the net and the goals moved up, down, and for the goals, sideways.

"You know that's so cool, but at the same time, it seems soooo troublesome," Roxas stated, "The brochure didn't mention anything about floating stuff.

They found the sign up table and registered themselves as a team. The attendant told them that they had a few minutes to prepare before their match started. She directed them to a wall, where various non-deadly weapons were being held.

Roxas walked up to the wall, where he spotted two black staffs. They were roughly 4 feet long, and just..plain. He didn't know the material they were made from, and personally, he didn't care. He grabbed them, and saw Kairi grab a long, flat bat.

She raised an eyebrow at his choice, "Staffs? Really?"

Roxas pointed at the bat in retaliation, "Whatever that is! Why?"

"Because shut up."

"Team Roxiri report to the court! Team Roxiri report to the court!" a megaphone wielding attendant spoke.

"Hate that name so much," Roxas muttered as he walked to the court, twirling his staffs in his hands.

**X.X.X**

(Match 1: Team Roxiri vs. Chip and Dale)

Roxas almost laughed when he saw they were facing off against two chipmunks. But you know...the game was about to start.

"Game start!" the announcer yelled.

See?

Roxas readied himself as a large watermelon flew onto their side of the court. One of the chipmunks bashed it and sent the fruit straight at him. He swung his left arm out, and sent the watermelon back at them. He heard Kairi yell behind him, and he turned to see her spike a huge cluster of grapes at the opposition. He grinned as the cluster had avoided the net and went into the chipmunks' goal. The watermelon however, was sent back at him. He crossed the staffs in front of him and halted its advance.

"Kairi, heads up!" he yelled as he sent the watermelon to her, and stopped several fruits from entering the goal.

She heard his call, and jumped in the air to send the watermelon at the opposing goal. Using the flat part of her weird bat, she swatted the fruit toward the goal. To their dismay, the net stopped the watermelon.

Roxas glared at the net, and then widened them as three clusters of grapes burst apart and went to their goal. The blonde ran in front of the goal and prepared himself. Just as the grapes neared him, he swung his staffs rapidly to deflect the grapes. Once the onslaught of grapes ended, he stopped swinging his weapons, breathing hard.

The sound of a buzzer going off ended the game.

As Kairi walked over to him, he looked at the score. Chip and Dale had 4 points. Team Roxiri had 7 points.

"We won!" Kairi yelled as she jumped in the air.

"Easy, easy. We still haven't won the tournament," the blonde told her in a disarming manner.

**X.X.X**

(9 minutes later)

For their first time playing the game, Team Roxiri certainly got far. They were in the finals. The last guy they went up against was tough to beat. The big meaty fists the opponent had were troublesome.

"Attention! We will be taking 20 minute break before the finals. Finalists enjoy your break!"

"Well I guess that solves our whole tired issue," Roxas stated as Kairi slid to the ground.

"Oh, that's good...who knew whacking fruit was so tiring?" was the reply.

He shook his head, and laughed, "Do you want some ice cream?"

"Yes!" she whined, "Get me the cream of ice!"

"On it," he replied with a smile.

He walked through the crowd, and went to the, now, less crowded square. He looked around and found an ice cream stand just a few feet away. It was being run by a duck with white plumage. The duck had four fingered hands, light blue eyes, yellow-orange feet and a bill of the same color. A black top hat with a red band near the brim adorned the duck's head, and had a thick, half-ring of ruffled feathers going around the back of its head. The duck wore a blue jacket with a folded down, red collar and cuffs, with a yellow button near the neck and red belt to keep it shut. On the duck's feet were red spats, and the duck carried a brown cane, with a gold tip.

"Hey, my boy! You lookin' fer ice cream?" the duck asked with a strange accent, as he finished cleaning up his prince-nez glasses.

"Um, sure Mister..." Roxas trailed off.

"Scrooge! Scrooge McDuck at yer service," he replied with a slight bow.

"Awesome! Well then Mr. McDuck, what type of ice cream you got?"

"Straight to the point are ye? Well, I've got Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry, Mint and Sea-Salt flavored ice cream. What'd ye perfer?"

_Sea-Salt?_ That sounded interesting, "Gimme two Sea-Salt Ice Creams."

"Aye, that'll be 80 munny," Scrooge said, with his hand outstretched.

Roxas blinked, and pulled out the requested amount of munny. He handed the munny over, and received two light blue bars of ice cream in return.

The blonde smiled at the duck and turned to leave, "Thanks Mr. McDuck."

"It's no problem lad. Just tell me if ye and yer lass enjoyed it before you leave," Scrooge told him as Roxas walked away.

"I will," the blonde replied. Mulling over the duck's words, he then blinked in realization, "Wait a minute...Hey!"

He heard Scrooge laugh, and gripped the sticks of the ice cream. Shaking off his stupidity, he went to Kairi's location, and handed her the ice cream.

"Here you go, one ice cream," he told her.

Roxas took a bite of his and was floored, "It's salty..yet it's sweet..this is life.."

"This is the best ice cream I have ever had," Kairi said with the ice cream in her mouth.

The two spent the next two minutes just talking about the ice cream and how much the other flavors sucked compared to Sea-Salt. They then relaxed for the rest of the break, and then went back to the court with their equipment.

**X.X.X**

(Final Match: Team Roxiri vs Team Honor Guard)

Roxas and Kairi were both shocked when they saw who they were facing. Mickey stood proud, keyblade in hand. Alongside him stood an anthropomorphic dog with black fur and droopy ears. The dog wore a green turtleneck sweater tucked into yellow pants that had blue straps holding the pant legs. Over the sweater was an unzipped black sleeveless combat vest, and on the dog's feet were very large brown shoes with steel toes on the outside. The weirdest thing to look at was the hat. It was orange with the top resembling a teardrop that was placed on it's side. The dog was equipped with a round blue shield with gold trim, and a mouse head emblem in the center.

"Garwsh King Mickey, those two look really surprised to see ya," the dog said aloud.

"I don't know why they are though Goofy. I did tell Roxas that I'd be in this tournament."

"No you didn't!" Roxas and Kairi yelled.

The king put a hand to his chin, "Hmm..coulda swore that I did.."

Before Roxas could protest further, the match began and an oversized pineapple was sent his way. Batting it toward Mickey's goal with his staffs, he prepared for any other fruit to come his way. Surprise flickered in his eyes as he watched Mickey jump high in the air to avoid the pineapple, and left Goofy to block it. He cursed when he saw that Mickey spiked a banana to their side, and that Goofy had bashed the pineapple back to them.

Kairi slid in front of the goal and smacked the banana away from it, leaving Roxas to halt the progress of the pineapple. _This could be difficult._ Roxas thought as he swung his left staff to smack a cluster of grapes away from his person. A plan sprung into his mind and he placed his staffs underneath the motionless cluster. With a grunt of effort, he sent the grapes into the air, and jumped after them.

"Take this!" he yelled as he spiked the grapes toward Mickey's goal.

The blonde grinned when he saw that the grapes had broken away from each other and still flew at the target. Once he touched ground, he could only blink when he saw Mickey seemingly teleport in front of his goal and raise his Keyblade to the sky. As the grapes neared Mickey's goal, they simply flew off to the sides, like something had blown them away. Roxas thought about it for a second before he came to the correct conclusion. Mickey had used magic.

He glanced in Kairi's direction and saw her taking the role of goalie to prevent some of the fruit that Goofy bashed from getting in. Focusing back on the offensive, he used his staffs to smack pineapples and bananas at his opponents' goal. He could only grit his teeth when Mickey used his Keyblade to quickly smack the fruit away from the goal.

Taking a quick glance at the scoreboard, he could only narrow his eyes. Neither team had made any points. A watermelon flew into his vision, and he could only groan when it smashed into him and spilled it's fruity essence everywhere. As he tried to fight the haze the watermelon had caused, he heard Kairi's grunts of exertion. She was obviously trying to pick up the slack he had provided. After the pain went away, Roxas jumped to Kairi's side and helped her defend the goal from a copious amount of fruit.

"Thanks," she told him as she caught her breath.

"No problem," he replied.

Jumping into the air, he intercepted an apple and sent it to the ground. Kairi swatted it toward Mickey's goal, and immediately blocked a watermelon Goofy had sent their way. Landing after a flip, his eyes widened and he turned to Kairi.

"Kairi! Your bat!" he yelled as he tossed her his staffs.

She seemed to get the message and quickly tossed him her flat bat. He grabbed it, and prepared himself. He channeled his light element as quickly and fine as he could. Turning the bat so that the edge was facing an incoming watermelon, he smiled when white took form around the edge, making it sharp. He swung the bat vertically, and sliced the fruit in half. Quickly, he murmured an Aero and casually blew away the two halves sideways. He then blinked when he saw the halves fly past him and into the opponents' goal.

He turned and saw that Kairi was tossing his staffs back to him. He grinned and tossed her bat back.

"Was that your doing?" the blonde asked.

"Oh yeah," she replied with a smile.

Before anymore could happen, the buzzer rang, symbolizing the end of the game. The two turned toward the scoreboard and smiled. Though they only had 1 point, they had managed a win.

"Good game you two," Mickey told them happily as he walked over to them with Goofy, "You guys were amazing."

"You used magic," Roxas stated.

"Gawrsh..well..so did you.." Goofy replied.

Oh yeah...fair point..

"At any rate, are you guys through with your day of fun?" the mouse asked.

Roxas looked back to look at Kairi and she shrugged. They did have fun, what with the ice cream, the pinball game, and Fruitball. They could afford to leave..right?

"Yeah sure," the blonde said.

"Then follow me and Goofy," Mickey told the pair, as he walked in the direction of the castle.

**X.X.X**

(20 minutes later, Disney Castle)

It took 20 minutes to walk from the town to the castle. By the time they reached the doors of the castle, Roxas had piggybacked Kairi for 10 minutes. They were currently walking through the halls, with Roxas trudging along behind Mickey and Goofy.

"Currently dying," he wheezed with Kairi's hands blocking his eyes, "Are we almost there?"

"Almost..just a few more feet.." she replied.

"But I could have swore I heard a door open or something," he whined.

"It was just your imagination," she said as she seemed to be holding back a laugh.

He stopped walking, "We're already inside aren't we?"

"Yes," was the answer.

The blonde nodded, and then promptly released Kairi, who fell to the floor. Rather than hearing her yelp in pain, he heard her teasing laugh.

"I trusted you," he told her as he pouted at her.

That sent her into more laughter, and Roxas crouched in a corner with a storm cloud brewing over his head. He poked the ground, and muttered about how trust wasn't something to laugh about.

"Um..Roxas..Kairi," Mickey said, "We're where we need to be."

Roxas looked up from his corner, "And where's that?"

"The castle armory."

The blonde grinned slowly, and then skipped along his merry way to the room, completely ignoring Kairi. It took him a few minutes, but he then left the room and dragged Kairi to the armory. Once he did, he gawked. The room was white, with weapons of all types and possibilities hung up on the walls.

"Welcome to the armory~" Mickey sang.

"Cool," Kairi said.

Roxas had to agree..this was very cool. But..

"Why'd you bring us here?"

"Because you're going to need weapons if you're going to face Xehanort," Mickey told him.

Roxas blinked, "But..it's just me and Kairi, and I already have the Keyblade so-"

"And what happens if one day you find that you can't summon your Keyblade? Or if more people wanna follow you on your journey?" the mouse asked, "You can't always rely on the Keyblade, or that it'll be just you and Kairi."

The blonde looked right at Kairi, and then to the serious face of the king. When Mickey put it that way, it only seemed logical that they should have contingency plans in case scenarios like the ones Mickey described happened.

"You're right..what can we take?"

"Whatever you like."

Kairi tapped Roxas's back, and he looked at her. That was all they needed to hear. He ran toward a wall, and grabbed a dull brown pack. He found several round pellets, and put dozens of them in it. He found potions, and what he believed to be ethers, and shoved them in the pack. The blonde looked at Kairi to see her packing throwing needles and knives into a light pink pack.

_Wonder what she's getting?_ He asked himself.

**X.X.X**

Kairi hummed to herself as she packed the throwing weapons into the pack she chose. She was happy, if not feeling just a little weird, that Mickey was allowing them to raid the castle armory. Her violet eyes kept looking everywhere, when she saw something that caught said eyes.

A pair of black gloves hung on the wall, but that wasn't what had her eye. It was the weird red jagged S that had two dots stylized like fire on the outside of its curves. As she looked at the strange symbol it seemed to pulsate with light.

"I see you seem interested in the runes on the gloves," Mickey said behind her, startling the girl.

"Uh yeah...you said they were runes?"

"Uh-huh. Runes are a magical alphabet, that can make spells once written on something and have energy to sustain them. For example, these gloves can be set on fire."

"On fire? Won't that burn them up?"

"Nope! I don't know why it doesn't though. Our castle library has a few books on runes if you want to learn."

Kairi nodded, and Mickey went to an intercom that was on a wall.

"Attention! I need 'So You Wanna Learn How to Rune?' Volumes 1-3 and 'The Wide Wide Alphabet of Runes' delivered to the armory. Thank you!" the mouse said with the button pushed.

A few minutes later, Kairi could only blink when an animated broom carried in the books the king had requested.

**X.X.X**

(2 hours later)

Roxas and Kairi had left the armory possibly fully prepared for some battle, and they just finished loading food, and utilities onto their Gummi Ship (those brooms were very useful). They now had a fully stocked kitchen area, and were ready to leave. Roxas had just finished recounting the tale of how Twilight Town fell to Mickey, and the pair decided to leave.

"Thank you for giving us all this stuff your majesty," the two said with a bow.

"It's no problem!" he replied with a smile, "Just remember to be on guard, Roxas. You never know what you're going to face out there. You've gotta protect the light you have with you."

Roxas looked confused, "Whadda mean? The light I have, or..?"

"You mean you can't tell?" Mickey asked, "Kairi is important..she's a princess."

The blonde looked at Kairi, who blushed, "Um, thank you your majesty that's very kind to say. ..But what do you mean?"

"Kairi..you're a Princess of Heart. One of seven who have nothing but pure, unadulterated light in their hearts. They are completely unable to be corrupted by darkness. I don't know what Xehanort's plan is, but you and the other princesses might be a part of it. Be careful."

Well...that was a game changer..that was like adding a rock on an already not so smooth road.

"I'll be sure to take care of her," Roxas told the king as he dragged her into the Gummi Ship.

"Good-bye!" Mickey waved as the Gummi Ship started and took off.

Roxas sat at the controls, thinking about what he and Kairi were told..there was much to discuss.

"Roxas..we should talk about this," the girl said.

Much to discuss indeed.

**X.X.X**

(2 weeks later, Location Unknown)

Roxas woke up, stomach down, in a wooden bed. _What happened? _Groaning, he looked around with bleary eyes before noticing movement at the foot of the bed. Turning, he noticed that nothing was there. Confused, he looked around, and gasped.

He had wings! Clear see-through sissy wings..but wings nonetheless! The blonde stood up, and turned. Could he fly? That was a question to be asked, as the wings didn't look like they would hold anything. When he looked down, he had a better question.

"Why am I naked?"

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**That seems like a good place to stop. Awesome, awesome. Revelations in only 4 chapters, woot! To be clear guys, you only got this chapter so soon after EGO because of my asthma. That thing kept me for school for a good while.**

**Now I have an ask account on my profile (gosh I feel like a whore, lol). If you wanna ask me anything, go to the link and ask away! Feel free to ask a lot of questions.**

**Anyway, Burai out!**


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